April 6th, 2012 7:40am

You’re Wanted For More Than Your Crimes

“Compare and Contrast” owes something to a long lineage of heart-on-sleeve power pop tunes, but to my ears, it mainly sounds like the best Matthew Sweet song in nearly two decades. LeMay’s song has a light, breezy tone, but the sentiment is fraught with emotion as he attempts to negotiate his way through a dissolving relationship while feeling a bit worried that he’s complicating matters by saying too much. The lyrics are great at conveying the singer’s hyper-awareness, especially when he seems trapped in his head at the very worst moments: “I tried not to watch as affection drained out of your eyes.” There are some absolutely gutting bits in this, but remarkably, it doesn’t shake off the easy springtime feeling of the music. At points, LeMay’s own solos seem to tell him, “Hey, relax, it wasn’t meant to be.”